Collaborative development of an innovative virtual research recruitment strategy through an academic/clinical...

Recruitment for research studies is the crucial first step and often the most challenging one. A major shift in recruitment methods for research was necessitated by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our goal is to describe lessons learned and the success rate of virtual research recruitment compared with other research recruitment strategies employed by our Academic/Clinical Partnership research team.

A descriptive design was employed to assess the success of in-person, mailed introductory letters with follow-up telephone calls and virtual recruitment strategies. The potential participants (N = 144) were parents caring for technology-dependent children (e.g., mechanical ventilation, feeding tubes) at home. To meet recruitment goals the Academic/Clinical Partnership research team (academic project team, hospital-based research nurses) collaboratively developed creative recruitment strategies and a framework to assess recruitment strategy success; percentage who agreed to be contacted by the academic partner, total time for recruitment visit, efficiency, and adherence to ethical recruitment principles.

Virtual recruitment via telehealth visits was highly successful meeting all recruitment strategy benchmarks. Importantly, 91.7 % of potential participants that were approached agreed to be contacted for enrollment in a time efficient manner while adhering to ethical recruitment principles. Best practices and lessons learned were identified.

The transition to virtual study recruitment due to the pandemic was an innovative and successful strategy. An Academic/Clinical Partnership research team benefits both partners: (1) enhances study recruitment by increasing research capacity at the clinical site; and (2) provides mentoring by nurse scientists to facilitate nurse research scholar knowledge and skills.